John 6:38Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What are You saying? Is Your will one thing, and His another? So that no one would think this, Christ rejects such a thought by saying further: "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life" (v. 40).

And is this not Your will? How then do You say elsewhere: "I came to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled" (Lk 12:49)?

If You also will this, then it is clear that You have one will with the Father. Elsewhere He also says: "As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills" (Jn 5:21).

Where is Nestorius here, who says that Christ was deified after the Resurrection? Do you not hear, wretched man, that He came down from heaven?

The One Who came down from heaven was clearly not a mere man, but God. A mere man does not descend, though he may sometimes ascend to heaven when God grants this to him for virtue.

Since the Lord's descent preceded the Resurrection, He Himself came down from heaven as God, descending for the sake of becoming man. He ascended into heaven with the flesh as man, where He had been before as God.

Therefore Christ is not a mere man later deified, as Nestorius idly prattled. He is pre-eternal God, Who became man in the last times.

At first glance this saying may seem difficult to someone and not wholly free from offense concerning the faith. For this reason we expect to meet with the subtle objections of our opponents.

But in reality there is nothing insurmountable here. For "all things are plain to those who understand, and all things are right to those who find knowledge," Prov 8:9. That is, to those who piously strive to explain and understand the mysteries in the divine Scriptures.

In these words, then, Christ gives us, as it were, a proof and clear assurance that the one who comes to Him will not be cast out. For this reason, He says, I have come down from heaven.

"Therefore, the one who comes," He says, "I will not cast out." Why? Because I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me (Jn 6:38).

Is this, then, the very reason why You must not cast out the one who comes to You, because You came down from heaven not to do Your own will, but the will of Him Who sent You? It is indeed. Why, then, do we ask whether this is the reason? It is the very reason. He Himself says so.

We are not permitted to suspect anything other than what He says: "The one who comes to Me I will not cast out." It is as if you asked, "Why?" He answers, "Because I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me."

I fear lest the soul depart away from God because it is proud. Indeed, I do not doubt it. If through pride we fall away, through humility we return.

When a physician treats an illness, he may treat something that has arisen from some cause. Yet if he does not root out the cause from which it arose, he will seem to heal only for a time. If the cause remains, the disease returns.

Therefore, to root out the cause of all diseases, that is, pride, the Son of God humbly came down from heaven. Why are you proud, O man? God humbled Himself for your sake. Perhaps you would be ashamed to imitate human humility. Then imitate the humility of God.

Since God teaches humility, He said, "I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me." This is the testimony of His humility. For pride does its own will, while humility does the will of God.

Therefore, "the one who comes to Me I will not cast out." Why? Because I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me. I came humble. I came to teach humility. The one who cleaves to Me is humble. He will be humble, because he does not do his own will, but God's. Therefore he will not be cast out. If he were proud, he would be cast out.

What is inside there, from which He will not cast him out? Great halls and sweet chambers. O chambers without burdens, without the bitterness of evil thoughts, without temptations and deceits!

Are these not the halls into which the one will enter to whom the Lord says, as to a good and faithful servant, "Enter into the joy of your master" (Mt 25:23)? "The one who comes to Me I will not cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me" (Jn 6:37-38).

You will not cast out the one who comes to You, because You came down from heaven to fulfill not Your own will, but the will of Him Who sent You? Ineffable mystery! I beg you, let us knock together. May that come to us which will satisfy us by filling us with joy.

Ineffable and sweet mystery: "The one who comes to Me." Listen, listen, and consider: "The one who comes to Me I will not cast out." Therefore, "the one who comes to Me," He says, "I will not cast out." Why? "For I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me."

Is the reason why You do not cast out the one who comes to You precisely that You came down from heaven to do not Your own will, but the will of Him Who sent You? Precisely so. Why do we ask whether it is so? This is the very reason. He Himself names it.

We should not suppose something different from what He said: "The one who comes to Me I will not cast out." It is as though you asked Him, "Why?" He answers, "For I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me" (Jn 6:37-38).

I fear lest the soul be cast out by God because it was proud. I do not doubt this. For it is written, "The beginning of sin is pride" (Sir 10:15). And again, "The beginning of pride is man's departure from the Lord" (Sir 10:14). So it is written. This is certain and true.

Moreover, what is said in Scripture about the proud man, clothed in the rags of flesh, weighed down by the burden of a sinful body, and yet exalting himself while forgetting what skin he wears? "Why are earth and ashes proud? Why are they proud?" (cf. Sir 10:9).

Let Scripture say why earth is proud. "Because in his life he casts out his inward parts" (cf. Sir 10:10). What does "casts out" mean if not "throws away," that is, "casts outside"?

To enter within is to strive toward what is within. To cast out is to eject what is within. The proud man casts out what is within. The humble man thirsts for what is within. If we are cast out because of pride, let us return through humility.

Pride is the head of all diseases, because pride is the head of all sins. If a physician, removing an ailment, treats only the disease caused by something, and does not treat the cause that produced it, then the ailment will seem to depart for a time. Yet while the cause remains, the disease will return.

For example, to speak more plainly, fluid or an ulcer arises in the body. Fever and considerable pain seize the body. Certain medicines are taken to soothe the ulcer and reduce the fever caused by the abscess. The medicines are taken and have success.

You see healed the man who was covered with ulcers and abscesses. But because the fluid was not removed, it will again produce an ulcer. The physician, understanding this, removes the fluid. He eliminates the cause, and there will be no more ulcers.

From where does unrighteousness grow? From pride. Be healed of pride, and there will be no unrighteousness. Therefore, so that the cause of all diseases, namely pride, might be healed, the Son of God came down and assumed humility.

Why are you proud, O man? God accepted humility for your sake. Perhaps you are ashamed to imitate a humble man. Then imitate the humble God. The Son of God came in the form of man and accepted humility.

He teaches you to become humble. He does not teach you to become an irrational beast from a man. He, God, became man. You, O man, recognize that you are man. All your humility is for this, that you may recognize yourself.

Since God teaches humility, He said, "I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me" (Jn 6:37). This is indeed the confession of humility. Pride, of course, does its own will. Humility does the will of God.

Therefore, "the one who comes to Me I will not cast out." Why? "For I came not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me."

"I came humble. I came to teach humility. I came as the teacher of humility. The one who comes to Me becomes one body with Me. The one who comes to Me becomes humble. The one joined to Me will be humble. For he does not do his own will, but God's. Therefore he will not be cast out, although he was being cast out when he was proud."

See what is entrusted to us in the Psalm concerning what is within: "The sons of men shall hope under the shadow of Your wings" (cf. Ps 35:8). See what it means to enter within. See what it means to flee to this refuge.

See what it means to flee there, even while enduring a father's scourging, for He scourges every son whom He receives (Heb 12:6). "The sons of men shall hope under the shadow of Your wings." What are they within? "They shall be satisfied with the abundance of Your house" (cf. Ps 35:9).

When You lead inward those who enter into the joy of their Lord, they shall be satisfied with the abundance of Your house. From the torrent of Your delight You shall give them drink. "For with You is the fountain of life" (Ps 35:9-10).

Not outside You, but within: with You. There is the fountain of life. "In Your light we shall see light. Extend Your mercy to those who know You, and Your righteousness to the upright in heart" (Ps 35:10-11).

Those who follow the will of their Lord, not seeking their own things but the things of the Lord Jesus Christ, are upright in heart. Their feet are not unsteady. "For God is good to Israel, to the upright in heart. But my feet," says the Psalmist, "had almost stumbled" (cf. Ps 72:1-2).

Why? "Because I envied sinners, seeing the prosperity of sinners" (cf. Ps 72:3). To whom, then, is God good, if not to the upright in heart? In my perverse heart I was displeased with God. Why was I displeased? Because He gave happiness to the wicked.

Therefore my feet trembled: Have I served the Lord in vain? My feet had almost stumbled for this reason, that I was not upright in heart. What does "upright in heart" mean? It means following the will of God.

One man prospers, another labors. One lives destructively and yet is happy. Another lives righteously and yet is sorrowful. Let the one who lives righteously and labors not be irritated. Within, he has what the happy man does not have.

Therefore let him not grieve, let him not be tormented, let him not lose heart. That happy man has gold in his chest. This man has God in his conscience. Compare gold and God, chest and conscience.

The former has what perishes, and he keeps it where it disappears. The latter has God, Who cannot perish, and keeps Him where He cannot be stolen. This is so only if the man is upright in heart. For then he enters within and does not go out.

For what did he therefore say? "For with You is the fountain of life," not with us. Therefore we must enter within in order to be alive. We must not calmly gaze upon the fact that we will have to die, while refusing to drink so as not to die of thirst.

Rather, we must press our lips to the fountain in which there is no lack of water. Because Adam wished to live according to his own understanding, he fell through the one who had fallen before him through pride and offered him the cup of his pride to drink.

Since "with You is the fountain of life," and "in Your light we shall see light" (Ps 35:10), let us drink within. Let us direct our gaze inward. Why do some depart from there? Hear why: "Let not the foot of pride come to me" (cf. Ps 35:12).

Therefore the one to whom the foot of pride has come departs. Show that he departs for this reason. "And let not the hand of the sinner cast me out," precisely because of the foot of pride. Why do you say this? "There the workers of iniquity have fallen" (Ps 35:13).

Where have they fallen? In pride itself they were cast down and cannot rise (cf. Ps 35:13). If pride cast them down so that they cannot rise, then humility enters within those who will be able to stand forever.

Therefore, the one who said, "The bones that are crushed shall rejoice," had first said, "Make me hear joy and gladness" (Ps 50:10). What does "Make me hear" mean? It means: I am happy by listening to You. I am happy through Your voice. I am happy by quenching my thirst within.

Therefore I do not fall. Therefore the bones that are crushed shall rejoice. Therefore the friend of the bridegroom stands and listens to Him (cf. Jn 3:29). He stands because he listens. He drinks from the inner fountain, and therefore he stands.

Those who refused to drink from the inner fountain have fallen there. They have been cast down and cannot rise.

Therefore the Teacher of humility came not to do His own will, but the will of Him Who sent Him. Let us come to Him. Let us enter into Him. Let us become one Body with Him, incorporemur, so that we may do not our own will, but the will of God.

He will not cast us out, because we are His members. He wished to become our head, teaching humility. Finally, hear how He calls: "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart. When you have learned this, you will find rest for your souls" (cf. Mt 11:28-29).

From there you cannot be cast out. "For I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me" (Jn 6:38). I teach humility. No one except the humble can come to Me. Pride alone drives outside.

How can one go out who preserves humility and does not depart from the truth? Concerning the hidden meaning, as much has been said as could be said, brothers. This meaning is quite hidden. I do not know whether I have been able, with suitable words, to open it and bring it forth.

The expression says that the Son came down from heaven not to do His own will, but the will of Him who sent Him (Jn 6:38).

If this had not been spoken by the One who descended Himself, we would answer that these words were spoken in the person of a man, not the one whom we understand in the Savior.

His will, being wholly deified, is not opposed to God. Rather, they would be spoken in the person of one like us, because human will does not always follow the will of God.

Very often it contradicts and resists it. In this way we also understand the words: "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will," but let Your will prevail (Mt 26:39).

"Not to do My own will," that is, not a separate will, for I have no separate will. "But the will of Him Who sent Me," that is, the will common to Him and to Me. For as Their Godhead is one, so also Their will is one.

Jesus Christ "came down" from heaven according to His divinity.

He does not do what He does not will. Rather, He calls His obedience the action of the Father's will, while He Himself wills to fulfill the Father's will. But this was the willing realization of the will.

See also On the Trinity 9.49, where he affirms that Christ's will is not subject to necessity. See also On the Trinity 9.74; 11:30.

When we desire to begin our return to the place from which we fell, we need much labor. For we do not wish to abandon our own wills, and we think that we can combine our will with the will of God.

But this is impossible. The Lord Himself said: "Not to do My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me." Yet the will of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is one, as of one undivided Nature.

This was said for our sake and with reference to the will of the flesh, that is, the human will.

For if the flesh is not mortified, and if the whole person is not led by the Spirit of God, he cannot fulfill God's will without compelling himself.

But when the grace of the Spirit reigns in us, then we shall no longer have a will of our own. Whatever happens to us is then the will of God.

Then we have peace, and such people will be called sons of God. For they love the will of the Father, as does the Son of God, who is God.

"Good," the Jews answered, "then give us always such bread." They were asking for more than they themselves clearly understood, like the Samaritan woman when she asked for living water.

"Do you wish it? I Myself am this bread of life." Of course, this bread can be eaten only by faith.

So you see that you again come to the same conclusion. To receive life, you must believe in Me. You yourselves wish to eat the bread of life.

And this bread of life, which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, is I Myself. It can be eaten by faith.

The Jews did not expect to come to such a conclusion. Without confirmation by new miracles, they did not wish to acknowledge such a high dignity in Jesus.

Like the Samaritan woman (4:13-15), the hearers of Jesus Christ understood His words about the bread of life in a sensual sense. By this bread they meant something like the manna in the wilderness.

But Christ says: "I am the bread of life. Therefore you need not ask for this bread to be sent down. It has already been sent down to you from God, and you need only receive Him, that is, believe in Me.

Yet you have seen Me, and do not believe. But if you had faith in Me, I would impart eternal life to you. For all that the Father gives Me, all who obey the Father's grace calling them to salvation, come to Me.

With full and all-embracing love I answer this obedience to the Father's saving call. For I came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me.

"For I came down from heaven," and so forth. The reason why He receives those who come to Him according to the determination of the heavenly Father is that He does not act according to His own will, as though it differed from the Father's will.

Rather, He acts in union with that will. It consists in this, that the believer should have eternal life (Jn 6:39-40), which is possible only in the Kingdom of Christ.

"My will, but the will," and so forth. See the note on Jn 5:30.

If He were accomplishing His own work, distinct from the Father's work, then receiving or not receiving someone to Himself could depend on some external causes.

Then Jesus Christ speaks directly: "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst" (v. 35).

In these words Jesus Christ speaks, as it were, in this way: "You ask that the bread of which I speak always be given to you.

But this depends on you yourselves. Come to Me and believe that I speak to you the truth, the truth which God has made known to Me.

Then you will not be tormented by the search for truth and for the path to the blessedness of eternal life. You will know both the truth and the way.

You will no longer suffer from the unsatisfied demands of the spirit, from the hunger of the soul. But for this you must believe that I have been sent by My Father."

Verses 38-40. "For I came down from heaven, not to do My own will... The will of Him who sent Me is that of all He has given Me, I should lose nothing."

Let them not fear that the lot of one who believes in Jesus is hardly as secure as the lot of Moses' disciples was.

The works of the highest minds and strongest characters are unreliable when they act by human will alone. It would be well if brilliant reformers of faith, laws, and social life did not bring new disorder into human societies.

In reality this is rare, very rare. There is no need to speak of how firm and long-lasting their constructions are.

The Son of Man appeared from heaven not in order to do His own will (Jn 5:19, 30). He does the will of the Father who sent Him.

In verse 37 the Lord points to the community of believers whom the Father gives to the Son. Faith arising in the heart of the believer is reckoned to him as merit, for it is the consequence of a person's good will.

By faith a person gives himself to God, and God receives him as a son with love. Yet all things are known to God, including the movements of every person's heart.

Therefore it is said of believers: "whom God foreknew, He also predestined, and called, and justified, and glorified" (Rom 8:29-30).

These people, whom good will has led to God and whom God the Father gives to the Son, must come to the Son.

They cannot remain deists and perceive God only from a philosophical point of view. They must come to the Son and become Christians.

If He Himself declared that He does the will of the Father and not His own, then what He did was certainly the will of the Father.

To this we are now called, for example, to preach, to labor, and not to withdraw even unto death. That we may be able to fulfill this is the work of the divine will.

He Himself was the will and power of the Father. Yet, in order to manifest the patience that was due, He delivered Himself to the will of the Father.